Classic Zimbabwean carvings now benefit Orphan Care Center
 
Tirivanhu Medziso has been supporting his family for many years through the sale of his wonderful carvings in stone. And now he has found a way to market his work in the United States in such a way that he can not only support his family, but also help the orphans at the Heather Chimhoga Orphan Care Center. A portion of all U.S. sales goes to the center. Interested persons can purchase his work by clicking here to contact us. See below for pictures of a few of his works.
Masterful use of form, mass and volume belie Mr. Medziso’s lack of formal training. His more ambitious sculptures convey an intimacy and understanding of everyday life that is rarely observed in contemporary sculpture. In abstract pieces his wide range of ability is apparent in the fluid manner in which the eye is directed to the details of the sculpture.
Tirivanhu was raised in a thatch-roofed rondavel not far from where the Orphan Care Center is now located. The fourth of seven children, he walked barefoot several miles each day to attend the Nyamashato Primary School, one of the center’s neighboring facilities. The school had no books, pencils or paper. He learned to do his schoolwork in the sand using a stick as a pencil. But it was there that a teacher saw some of his early carvings, recognized his natural ability and encouraged him to continue his carving.
Tirivanhu then worked his way through secondary school, paying his own school fees through the sale of his stone sculptures. After completing secondary school he traveled to South Africa and studied under a Zimbabwean Stone Carver for just six months before his money ran out and he had to return home. Yet, through natural ability and dilligence, he has become a master.
 Tirivanhu mines the stone by hand from the hills some distance from his home. He hires an ox cart to transport the stone from the mine to his work area, which is out in the open. In the beginning, the only carving tools that he had were fashioned out of old tablespoons, knives, etc., which he heated in the fire and then pounded into the shape he needed. In recent years various individuals have donated proper hand stone sculpting tools.
To purchase a sculpture please click here to contact us
To purchase a sculpture please click here to contact us |
